Ladder holder

ABSTRACT

A ladder holder for securing with respect to a wall at least one ladder in which at least one elongated member is pivotally coupled to the wall. Slideably secured to the elongated member is a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;U&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;-shaped assembly for embracing the rails of the ladder. The movement of the embracing assembly is restrained with respect to the elongated member in order to secure the ladder and prevent it from being removed.

United States Patent 1191 Finocchiaro et al. 1 Apr. 2, 1974 LADDER HOLDER 2,639,208 5/1953 0120110118111 211/8 x 2,693,691 11/1954 Pasancn [75] Invenwrs: Harry F'nmchmo, BOX 3431 2,765,646 1956 116 1161 211/ R x Monroevllle swedesbofo; 3,378,183 4/1968 Ferrer 211 49 R x James Tyo, Westvflle, both of 3,578,177 5 1971 Paden 211/49 R [73] Assignee: said Finocchiaro, by said Tyo Primary Examiner-Ramon S. Britts [22] Flled' July 1972 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Allan Ratner 121 Appl. No.3 272,414

[57] ABSTRACT 52 U.S. Cl. 1189, 2 114 i Int 2 1 54 A ladder holder for securing w1th respect to a wall at 158 Field 61 Search 211/89, 87, 105.1, 59, 1? adder east ber 18 plvotally coupled to the wall. Shdeably secured 211/13 60 to the elongated member is a U shaped assembly 49 R, 124,123,125, 57; 4 03, l

2 8/2 286 36 R for embracmg the ralls of the ladder. The movement Cite 11f I1: $13533 31 5111? 11 EJ315353?!$35332;

UNITED STATES PATENTS and prevent it from being removed. 2,091,759 8/1937 Johnson 248/215 2,544,615 3/1951 Raymond 108/146 7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDAPR 2 i924 SBEEIIBFZ -Illl lllllill l Illulnllllllillll LADDER HOLDER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of Art This invention relates to the field of art of holders or brackets for securing ladders.

2. Prior Art Ladder storage has always presented a problem and has become a particular problem with the development of light weight ladders such as those made of aluminum. The problems arise, for example, when ladders are stored in a retail establishment prior to sale or in an industrial plant where it is often found necessary to maintain individual stalls for housing equipment. Since ladders take up much space, they are normally stored outside of a building one against the other in an upright position against a wall. The upright position is normally used since ladders stored horizontally take ,up too much space. However, in this upright position against an outside wall, ladders are very susceptible to theft and to being felled by the force of wind. It has been known to protect ladders from theft by passing chains through the rungs of a group .of ladders and padlocking the ends of the chain. This leaves much to be desired since the chains have scarred the ladders and do not provide any effective support. In fact, ifa ladder does fall with the wind, the chain has caused severe damage to the rungs and rails. In addition, chains are known to be easily cut and the ladders stolen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A ladder holder for securing with respect to a wall at least one ladder. At least one elongated member passes between the rungs of the ladder and a wall bracket couples the elongated member to the wall. An embracing assembly is slideably secured to the elongated member for embracing the rails of the ladder. To secure the ladders, the embracing assembly is restrained with respect to the elongated member. In this anner, the ladder is secured in place and prevented from being removed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a single elongated member ladder holder in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a larger perspective view ofa portion of the ladder holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a modification of the bracket for the ladder holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a two elongated member ladder holder of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the holder of FIG. 5.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-6, there is shown a plurality of vertical ladders 10 stacked one on the other secured by the ladder holder of the present invention. In FIGS. l-3, ladder holder 12 includes a single rigid elongated member 15 while in FIGS. 5 and 6, ladder holder 12a has a pair of elongated members 16 and 17. Where cost is an important factor and where the ladders are of moderate size, for example 10 feet or less, sin g le member holder 12 may be used. For greater stability and where long ladders are to be stored, then dual member holder 12a may be used.

For purposes of description, ladders 10'will each be described as having a pair of rails 20 and 21 and rungs 22. The longitudinal dimension of the ladder is defined as the long dimension of rails 20-21 while the ladder transverse dimension is along the long dimension of rungs 22. Rails 20 and 21 each have the same transverse dimension.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, tubular elongated members 16 and 17 may be of length in a typical case to secure about eight to ten ladders in a stack. However, the members may be of any convenient length to accomodate other numbers of ladders and even of length for only one ladder. Each of members 16 and 17 has formed therein similarly spaced sequential transverse openings 18.

Members 16 and 17, as shown, are pivotally coupled to a rigid U-shaped wall bracket 25. Specifically, each of members 16 and 17 are secured to an individual leg 23, 24 respectively of bracket 25 by means of rivets or other fastening means 27, 28. The purpose of the pivoted connection is to permit elongated members 16 and 17 to swing in a vertical direction and to lie flat against wall 11 when no ladders are being stored and secured. Bracket 25 is secured in place to wall 11 by a pair of bolts and nuts extending through openings in body 26 of bracket 25 and through mating openings in wall 11. Holder assembly 12a may be mounted, for example, app roximatelyseven feet above ground level which is about the height of the reach of an average man's arms. In this manner, if the full length of members l6 and 17 are not taken up by ladder storage, the members do not extend in the way of people passing by and thereby pose a hazard.

The ladders are secured and held in place by an embracing assembly 33 comprising a solid rod, rigid U- shaped member 32 which is fixedly secured on body 38 of the member as by welding to sleeves 34 and 35 which are slideable with respect to members 16 and 17 respectively. Sleeves 34 and 35 may be of tubular shape having an inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of tubular members 16 and 17. It will be seen that distance A which is the length of the legs 36, 37 of member 32 is made approximately equal to the transverse dimension of rails 20 and 21. In specific applications, length A may be made to conform to the particular ladders desired to be secured and many conventional ladders have rails from three to six inches. Distance B along body 38 is the distance between legs 36 and 37 and is sufficient to enclose rails 20 and 21. Thus, distance B may be just greater than the transverse dimension of desired ladders.

In operation, members 16 and 17 are swung to their approximately horizontal position and assembly 33 is removed. Ladders 10 are then stacked vertically in position one on the other with members 16 and 17 passing preferable between two rungs of each of the ladders as shown. After all of the ladders are in place, assembly 33 is inserted onto members 16 and 17 and pushed snuggly against the ladder remote from wall 1 1 until the innermost openings 18 are exposed on the ends of sleeves 34, 35 opposing bracket 25. A padlock 40 is then secured in place as shown on oneof these openings 18 on either member 16 or 17 or an individual padlock is provided for both openings (not shown). Thus, assembly 33 is restrained from moving in a direction away from wall 11.

It will be seen that with the ladders secured in place, they are stable against wall 11, and holder 12a is protected from attack by thieves. Mounting bracket 25 is effectively buried within the rungs of the ladders so that bolts and nuts 30 and fasteners 27 and 28 are very difficult to reach and pry out or otherwise remove.

As previously described, ladder holder 12, shown in FIGS. l3, is similar to holder 12a of FIGS. 5 and 6, except that only a single elongated member 15 is used. Accordingly, embracing assembly 330 comprises only a single sleeve 34a fixedly secured to U-shaped member 32a which secures the ladders in place as shown. Bracket a is of L-shape having a leg 24a to which is pivotally secured member 15 by way of fastening means 27a. Thus, only a single nut and bolt 30a is required to secure bracket assembly 12 in place on the wall.

In the modification of FIG. 4, wall bracket 40 is formed at one end having an extended bolt 40a and at the other end in a loop 40b which passes through an opening in elongated member 15a which in this case is square-shaped. In this manner, member 15a is pivotally secured to bracket 40 and may pivot not only in the vertical but also in the horizontal direction. Bolt section 40a extends through wall 11 and is secured in place as previously described.

It will be understood that many modifications may be made to ladder holders 12a-b in providing the function of securing the ladders snuggly in place and providing security against theft. For example, other types of locking devices may be used. Padlock 40 may extend through an opening in sleeves 34 or 35 to enter an opening 18. Instead of a padlock, another type of lock such as a bar lock may be inserted in an opening in sleeve 34a to mate with an opening 18. A single locking device may be coupled by linkages to both sleeves 34 and 35. ln addition, as previously described, the elongated member or members of the ladder holder may not only be of tubular shape (members 15-17), they may also be of hollow square shape (member 15a) in H6. 4. In other applications, the elongated member may have othershapes such as rectangular and may also be solid instead of hollow. Accordingly, the sleeves would be correspondingly constructed to slide on the particularly shaped elongated members. Similarly, members 32 and 32a may be of differing shapes such as rectangular or square and may be hollow as well as solid.

Whatis claimed is:

l. A ladder holder assembly for securing with respect 4 to a wall at least one ladder having rails and rungs comprising at least one elongated member for passing between rungs of said ladder, means for coupling said elongated member to said wall, means slideably secured to said elongated member for embracing the rails of said ladder, said embracing means including a rigid one-piece U-shaped member having two legs of dimension for enclosing the rails of said ladder between said legs, said embracing means including asleeve for receiving and being removable from said elongated member thereby to permit one or more of said ladders to be inserted onto said elongated member or removed therefrom, and means for restraining movement of said embracing means with respect to said elongated member comprising a plurality of sequential transverse openings in said elongated member receiving lock means thereby torestrain movement of said embracing means in a direction away from said wall to secure said ladder and prevent it from being removed.

2. The ladder holder of claim 1 in which said embracing means engages two rails of that ladder in a stack of ladders which is remote from said wall for securing all the ladders against the wall.

3. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which said two legs are of length substantially equal to the transverse dimension of said rails of a single one of said ladders. I

4. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which said coupling means comprises a bracket pivotally connected to one end of said elongated member and means for fixedly securing said bracket to said wall.

5. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which said elongated member and said sleeve are tubular shaped.

6. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which there is provided a pair of said elongated members and said coupling means comprises a bracket pivotally connected to said pair-of elongated members and means for rigidly securing said bracket to said wall.

7. The ladder holder of claim 1 in which said U- shaped member is rigidly fixed to said sleeve. 

1. A ladder holder assembly for securing with respect to a wall at least one ladder having rails and rungs comprising at least one elongated member for passing between rungs of said ladder, means for coupling said elongated member to said wall, means slideably secured to said elongated member for embracing the rails of said ladder, said embracing means including a rigid one-piece U-shaped member having two legs of dimension for enclosing the rails of said ladder between said legs, said embracing means including a sleeve for receiving and being removable from said elongated member thereby to permit one or more of said ladders to be inserted onto said elongated member or removed therefrom, and means for restraining movement of said embracing means with respect to said elongated member comprising a plurality of sequential transverse openings in said elongated member receiving lock means thereby to restrain movement of said embracing means in a direction away from said wall to secure said ladder and prevent it from being removed.
 2. The ladder holder of claim 1 in which said embracing means engages two rails of that ladder in a stack of ladders which is remote from said wall for securing all the ladders against the wall.
 3. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which said two legs are of length substantially equal to the transverse dimension of said rails of a single one of said ladders.
 4. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which said coupling means comprises a bracket pivotally connected to one end of said elongated member and means for fixedly securing said bracket to said wall.
 5. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which said elongated member and said sleeve are tubular shaped.
 6. The ladder holder assembly of claim 1 in which there is proVided a pair of said elongated members and said coupling means comprises a bracket pivotally connected to said pair of elongated members and means for rigidly securing said bracket to said wall.
 7. The ladder holder of claim 1 in which said U-shaped member is rigidly fixed to said sleeve. 